


Lust For Life

by sparklezayn



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Drug Use, M/M, Popular!Sehun, nerdy!jongin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-06 21:26:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11609268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklezayn/pseuds/sparklezayn
Summary: Jongin's life becomes a lot more interesting when he accidentally becomes friends with the most popular guys at his new school (not that he knows that at first). And unfortunately for him sehun loves make overs.





	1. New beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a while and now I've finally written it haha. I'll try to post chapters every other day. Enjoy. You can find me on twitter @honeypotjongin

Kai could see the expanse of flat green fields outside of the car window, passing by in a blur in an endless highway. His thoughts and emotions were all over the place, uncontrollable. His heart felt heavy in his chest when he thought about leaving his best friend, taemin. It wasn't like he wanted to move. His dad had transferred jobs for a higher salary. They promised to keep in touch but he worried that his friend would forget about him or stop caring. He knew taemin wouldn't forget him but it was a possibility and he was worried, he couldn't help it. 

Leaving his home town made him feel strangely nostalgic over things that used to annoy him or didn't seem important before leaving. 

He was starting to miss his house that looked exactly like the other houses in his neighborhood, his monotone cashier job at the local convenience store, the idiots at his school who once in a blue moon said something funny that wasn't at his expense, the cozy library with bean bags in the corner where he and taemin would eat their lunch together and read manga, the ancient bowling ally with its tacky neon lights and mysterious smelling shoes (by mysterious he means shit), he even missed his neighbor who always asked him for cigarettes when he walked his dog even though he always said no.

His imagination always ran wild when he worried,he started thinking about all the things that could go wrong. What if he made no friends? He was used to being alone the majority of the time but even he felt a little lonely on days when taemin wasn't there to eat lunch with him. What if he got bullied? He had never really gotten bullied since he does his best to be invisible and stay in his lane, but he could always hear the occasional nasty remark said about him behind his back. A thousand possibilities ran through his mind and he suddenly felt like throwing up. He wanted to jump out of the car and walk back home. But it was too late and there was no going back, he knew this. So, he put in his headphones and decided to take a nap. After about half an hour he dozed off.

 

 

When he woke up from his nap, his dad was pulling up into the driveway of their new house. This neighborhood was one of those nice ones for upper middle class families, it's also where the kids who wore polos and yeezy's always tended to live in. Once his dad parked into the car, he opened the door to let his dog, monggu, out. While his mom was opening the door to their new house, he started unloading boxes from the moving truck. 

As he turned around with a box in his hands, from across the street, he could see a tall, thin guy with blonde hair who looked to be around his age. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Neither of them broke eye contact until kai turned away and walked back to his house. That was embarrassing, he thought to himself. He should've at least waved or said something but he just stood there, looking like a creep. 

The blonde boy was intimidating, not because he had a serious look on his face (well that too), but mostly because he was really hot and kai wasn't prepared to make eye contact with a hot guy staring at him (not that he ever would be).

Once he got to work on setting up his room and putting it in order, he walked out onto the balcony in his room. It wasn't one of those really big ones but more like the ones they have in every single hotel room. His old house didn't have one and he thought it was cool. On the other hand, it was pretty much useless, unless he wanted to sneak out or a super princely guy with nice hair wanted to serenade him (which was very unlikely, actually pretty much impossible). But he had to admit the view was nice. He could see a cluster of tall buildings and a sliver of ocean in the distance. It looked particularly beautiful at that moment because the sun was starting to set and the whole sky looked like a painters palette, with various shades of orange, yellow, pink and purple all blending into each other. He turned away and decided it was time to go to bed.

 

 

The next day, kai had woken up around lunchtime. He checked his phone and saw a text from his parents saying that they were running errands and that they'd be back soon. Now he was walking down the street looking for place to eat. It was one of those days where it was too hot to do anything and he could feel sweat drip down his face as he trudged along.

He was walking down the street, when he turned to see a guy playing basketball. At that same moment he saw the ball hit the rim and bounce towards him. The ball was going so fast that there was nothing he could do other then stand there, as it came flying his way. The ball hit him right in the face. 

He slowly opened his eyes and next to his phone, lying on the ground, he could see little drops of blood on the cement below him. 

"Oh shit! Are you okay? Fuck, your nose is bleeding." Said a loud, booming voice.

"Uh.." He wasn't sure how to respond.

He heard another voice "For being on the basketball team, you're really bad at basketball." There was no response.

Kai finally managed a 'I'm fine' and looked up to see two guys standing over him. One was tall and gangly while the other was the blonde boy from yesterday. He turned back to look at the cement below him, not wanting the other guy to recognize him.

"Come on, I'm taking you to my house so you can clean your nose." The tall guy started lifting him up.

Kai thought 'no' but instead mumbled okay.

When they walked into the tall guy's place, a huge house with expensive furniture that looked like it had all been imported from France, he led him to the bathroom and handed him a box of tissues.

Once kai got rid of all the blood, he sat on the toilet and put his head in his hands. The cute blonde guy obviously lived around here which meant he was gonna go to the same school as him, which meant he was gonna have to see him every single day for the rest of his high school life. He wanted to die. Why did the universe hate him?

He took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom. The blonde guy was sitting on the couch, in the living room when he noticed him and yelled "Hey! Chanyeol, he's out of the bathroom!" Why did he have to make it sound like he just came out from taking a long shit? The tall guy, chanyeol, came into sight "You're not bleeding anymore! You good?" He put an arm around him. Kai just wanted to get the hell out of there and save himself from any further embarrassment. "Yeah I'm fine. Thanks." He was turning to leave but chanyeol seemed to want to continue the conversation, unfortunately. "By the way, where were you headed? Sehun told me that he saw a moving truck yesterday. Are you new here? That must mean you'll be going to school with us!" For being complete strangers this guy talks a lot, kai thought. He didn't know what questions to answer first so he started with, "I just moved here yesterday, so I guess yeah, I'm gonna be going to the same school as you guys and I was on my way to find a place to eat." Okay, now he can finally leave... wait, no because chanyeol then said, "That's great! 'Cus I'm hungry too. I'll even buy, to make up for hitting you in the face." He knew he should say no and just leave but if there was one thing he couldn't resist it was free food. He grudgingly agreed. 

On the way back from Taco Bell (chanyeol did in fact keep his promise and bought them what ever they wanted) kai had found that he and chanyeol had a lot of common. If he hadn't talked to him first he would've thought that he was one of those rich assholes who only hangs out with people who have the same amount of money as him. He also did all the talking, which was okay with kai, since it made things less awkward because all sehun did was stare at him (he noticed his staring because anytime he'd try to glance at the beautiful boy he'd already be looking at him). He was pretty sure the latter hated him, he didn't bother to say a single word the whole time they were eating. Chanyeol on the other hand had asked him a billion questions just on the short walk there.

"What's your name?" Kai. 

"Why did you move?" My dad transferred jobs. 

"Have you been to Florida before?" No. 

"Do you like the beach?" I've never gone.

"Then I guess me and sehun will have to take you! He's a beach bum." He ruffled sehun's hair. "He'll even show you how to surf! He's pretty good, he's even won a couple of competitions! Right sehun?" The other boy just nodded and chanyeol continued asking questions.

Kai kept his focus on the talkative boy. He was too nervous to look at sehun and he definitely didn't have the balls to start a conversation with him. They walked kai back home.


	2. Body Electric

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> kai and chanyeol go to tao's party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the story so much haha but here's the 2nd chapter! Each chapter is gonna be named after a lana del rey song haha

Kai hadn't seen sehun in the past two weeks since the first day they met. He'd only seen chanyeol, who insisted on coming over to his house every single day. Not that he minded, he was fun to hang out with and it's not exactly like he had anything else to do. 

It was Wednesday night and chanyeol was staying over at his house. Kai was trying to beat a boss in his video game, while chanyeol was lying on his bed staring at his phone. It had been an uneventful afternoon. That is until chanyeol started squealing, startling kai and causing his character die. He took his headset off and turned to his friend, "What was that?! I died because of you and now I have to start all over!" The other boy ignored him and was rapidly tapping his phone. Kai was curious "Why are you freaking out?" Chanyeol heard him this time "Tao's having a party! His parties are the best! It's what he's known for but tonight's party is special, this time he's celebrating his return from his trip to china! Cmon get up, we're going right now" he was already grabbing his keys and heading to the door, while kai was still processing what he had just said "Hold on. I can't just leave!" Out of habit he ran his fingers through his hair "My parents would kill me." He'd never snuck out, not really because he was afraid of getting in trouble but because the few friends he did have weren't the type to sneak out. They actually did what they were told. It was the middle of the week, who the hell throws parties on Wednesdays, anyways? He wasn't much of party person but he knew chanyeol would give him his puppy eyes look and he didn't want to deal with that. He had no choice. All he had to do was tell his parents that they were gonna watch a movie and his parents hardly ever went into his room, there was nothing stopping him. Kai couldn't believe what he was saying "Let's head out through the balcony."

Once they climbed down the tree next to his balcony (which by the way climbing down a tree and sneaking out was a lot harder than movies made it seem) they got into chanyeol's jeep and headed to the beach.

Chanyeol pulled up to a scene straight out of The Great Gatsby (the movie of course, he didn't have the patience to read the book). The house had lit torches and a huge bonfire that illuminated the house in the middle of the dark beach. He could see fog slip out of the open windows and the house shake from how loud the music was. The house was big too, almost as big as chanyeol's, it left him with his mouth hanging open. This guy, tao, had to be a complete narcissist to throw such an elaborate party for himself.

When they walked inside he was blinded by neon lights and an excessive amount of fog. He had only turned away for a second but his friend was already gone. He had ditched him for a short guy with red hair and a leather jacket. He was the complete opposite of his tall friend, the other guy had a punk look and seemed like the type to go to indie rock concerts every weekend instead of parties, while his friend was clearly the sporty type. Chanyeol, who was usually loud and friendly, was blushing and playing with a loose string on his t shirt, only stealing occasional glances at the other guy. He'd never seen him like this before. Is the red head the reason he was so excited to go to this party?

Kai, knowing no one else at the party and not having anything else to do, served himself some punch in a stereotypical red solo cup (which he didnt know actually existed until today) and sat on the couch. As he looked around he thought about how movies and shows made high school parties look way more fun then they really were. Most of the kids here were either too high to function, "dancing" (grinding and flailing their arms) or making out. He sighed and finished the rest of his punch. 

It was hotter then hell in the house and he had already gone through three cups of punch. He was tired of sitting on the sofa and went to the dance floor, suddenly feeling brave. 

He was dancing in between two guys. One had his dick practically in his ass and the other rubbed his ass against his dick. Out of the corner of his eye he could see someone staring at him. When he turned all the way he saw someone familiar. It was sehun, the same boy he'd been dying to see again for weeks was now standing right in front of him. Kai felt a pain in his chest when he thought about how the other boy probably didn't even give him a second thought, when he had been thinking about him nonstop. Suddenly feeling angry and not in the mood to dance anymore, he stumbled away from the two disappointed strangers to get more punch. 

When he sat down on the couch once again he noticed how hot his face felt and how his whole body felt like there was an electric current running through it. He felt the couch sink down and turned to see sehun looking at him with the same expressionless face he always wore. Kai chugged down the rest of his punch because damn it really was too hot in this house. 

They sat there in silence for a good five minutes until kai couldn't take it anymore. He quickly turned to look sehun in the eye, making the other boy jump in surprise. "Why do you stare at me like that, like I'm some lab experiment gone wrong?" He didn't care if he sounded stupid or what the other boy thought of him, not anymore. "Why are you even sitting next to me? You've made it PRETTY CLEAR that you don't like me! I feel like a dumbass, thinking about you since the day I moved here. Leave me alone and go fuck your boyfriend or something, all you do is confuse me." Everyone was too wasted or high to notice his yelling. Sehun looked stunned and for the first time he spoke to him "When did I ever say that I didn't like you? Also I dont have a boyfriend." Sehun knew the other was too drunk to understand what he was saying or even remember this conversation. Kai was about to keep on ranting but his eyes had suddenly widened. That's when he started throwing up all over the leather couch.

After he was done emptying his stomach, he looked up and saw sehun holding out a bottle of water. He hadn't noticed that sehun left. He took the water and chugged it down. Throwing up really wiped him out and he didn't couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. Sehun pulled him up over his back "I think it's about time to get you home." 

 

 

Kai had woken up the next morning realizing he was at home, in his bed and not at tao's house. He felt like someone had took his head and shook it, leaving with a pounding against his skull.  
His first thought was how the hell he got there. He didn't have any recollection of what happened last night. He tried to concentrate and think of the events in order. First he got into chanyeol's car, he left him to go flirt with some red head but then he couldn't remember anything else, other then the vague memory of sitting next to sehun on a couch. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what they had talked about.

He put his feet on the floor in order to get up and take a much needed piss, but under his feet wasn't carpet... but a body. Kai yelped and lifted his feet back on the bed. The pile of blankets on the floor groaned. Then poking out of the pile was a head of blonde hair. It was sehun. He slowly opened his eyes to stare up at him. Kai was wondering what to say so he lamely said "good morning?" The boy on the floor sat up, still wrapped in blankets. His voice was raspy when he asked "Do you by chance have any waffles?" Kai nodded and quickly headed downstairs. 

Him and the boy of his dreams were quietly sitting on his bed eating a plate of eggo waffles covered in syrup. Kai cleared his throat to get the other boy's attention "Did you... bring me home last night?" He looked up at him through his eyelashes. He thought he saw the other boy's cheeks turn pink and then he nodded. "Oh, thanks." Sehun mumbled, "no problem." 

Then the blonde put his plate down and looked at him "You're probably wondering what happened last night." He was right. He was wondering what the hell happened but judging by the look on the other's face he wasn't sure if he wanted to know anymore. But he wanted to talk to sehun and was dying of curiosity. "Tell me everything." 

By the time sehun was finished kai had his head in his hands. He couldn't bare looking at his crush because of how embarrassed he was. Apparently, he had drank too much punch at the party. Which was a dumb mistake on his part, he'd never been to a party before last night but he wasn't stupid enough to not know that punches at parties were always spiked. 

Unfortunately that wasn't even half of it. Sehun also informed him on how he quote on quote "grinded on a group of hot guys like his life depended on it" but he assured him that it wasn't that bad since they "seemed to enjoy it" not that it made kai feel any better. He saved the best for last, to when he yelled at him and immediately threw up all over the host's couch, to which afterwards sehun got them an uber home. 

Kai took in all this new information and wondered out loud "Were you watching me all night?" Kai didn't notice when the other boy blushed and looked away "You were pretty drunk... and I saw how that idiot chanyeol ditched you. I didn't want anything bad happening to you." He whispered that last part. Kai was in disbelief. Sehun, who was practically a stranger, was actually worried about him and had watched him all night to make sure nothing bad happened to him, the same cold and aloof guy he thought hated him. He looked the other in the eyes "Thanks. That was very sweet of you. Who knows what could've happened if you weren't there." He took a deep breathe "And I'm sorry I yelled at you. I thought you hated me because the whole time we went to eat with chanyeol, all you did was stare at me and didn't say a word. I'm sorry I misjudged you." The other boy smiled "I'm just quiet around people I don't know." Kai was about to ask him to stay over, when sehun glanced at his watch. "Shit! I've gotta go." He quickly got up and started stuffing a waffle in his mouth. "Wait. Why?" The blonde swallowed and said "My shift starts in thirty minutes and I still have to get home and take a damn shower. I can't have my boss knowing I'm hungover." "Yeah you do kinda smell bad" he scrunched his nose. The blonde gave him a look and threw a pillow at his face. 

He was watching the other open the doors to the balcony when he turned around and said "By the way you're pretty good at dancing. I didn't know you could look so sexy." Before he could think of a reply the other boy was already at the bottom of the tree, on his way home. 

He stood there and noticed his face was red.


	3. Swan Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sehun gives kai a make over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My next au is gonna be a witch au but I wanna finish this one first :/ also at the end of the chapter is a link to the pic of kai that I based his makeup on

Kai was chewing on his cheese burger and taking sips from his strawberry milkshake.  
He, chanyeol, sehun and tao were all hanging out at some burger joint, too busy stuffing their mouths to talk. Since the day after the party they'd been hanging out a lot more. A lot of times it was just sehun and kai because chanyeol was busy with his boy toy (he got mad anytime sehun called his crush that) and tao was busy auditioning for minor roles in upcoming movies. In their short time together, he'd found that sehun was very caring, brutally honest and a little to flirty for his comfort. Compared to when they had first met he talked a lot more and they got along well, much to kai's pleasure.

Despite being at the other's party last week it was his first time meeting tao. He looked exactly like how he had imagined him, he had blue sparkly eyeshadow, tan skin and looked like a diva. The boy with make up was a bit self centered and out of touch with reality (Who could blame him? He had a glamorous life. Sehun even told him that he knew a couple of famous actors in China) but other than that he was ditzy and for the most part a good person. 

They were all eating their hamburgers (except tao who was eating a salad and stealing french fries from the other's plates) and chewing quietly, when kai looked up to see sehun inspecting him. Their eyes met but the other boy never broke eye contact.

Sehun was lost in thought. He was busy thinking about how much potential the other boy had, he could always tell when someone did. (After all he was the one who corrupted little kyungsoo.) Kai had a nerdy look to him which was cute and endearing to him but probably wasn't going to be to the majority of his school, where being rich and indifferent was always in style. This nerdy boy had glasses that he pushed up constantly because they slipped on his nose (a little habit sehun found cute), long black hair covering his eyes (he was definitely in need of a haircut.), a NASA t shirt and khaki shorts. As he thought about all this he got a brilliant idea.

Kai saw a sly smile spread across sehun's face. "Can i give you a make over?" 

"A make over?" He said with cheese burger still in his mouth.

"Yes. A make over. Nothing big, just a haircut and some make up." 

The other looked at sehun thoughtfully, thinking about what to make of what he had just said "Why? I don't think theres anything that could be done to make me look anymore attractive." He took another bite of his hamburger. 

"You're hopeless." 

"I know I am. That's why I'm saying no to a make over." 

"You know that's not what I meant!" Sehun whined.

"I'm not getting a make over and that's that." He sat back and crossed his arms.

Sehun got a mischievous look in his eyes and slid closer to the nerdy boy. He put an arm around him and put his mouth up to his ear. Kai could feel his body tense and his cheeks heat up as he felt his hot breathe touch his ear. "Come on, It'll be fun. You won't have to do anything. I'll be doing all the work and I'll even give you something in return." Kai stuttered "A-and uh what w-will you give me?" Sehun sat back and glanced at chanyeol from across the table. "Chanyeol, here, will buy you lunch every single day for a week." Chanyeol spit out his sprite and glared at sehun. Kai mused over his proposition, he didn't care much about changing his appearance but he didn't want to pass up an opportunity to spend more time with the other boy and getting free lunch for a week seemed like a pretty good deal. 

"Alright, when do we start?" The blonde squealed and pulled him into a tight hug. 

"Wait I didn't agree to anything!" Chanyeol yelled.

After finishing up their food they all packed into tao's white Mercedes and headed to sehun's house. 

Sehun lived right on the beach in a small, pastel green house on stilts. It was very different from where he lived but kai was never one to be stuck up. And besides, he liked his house. It didn't look antique and pricey like chanyeol's nor gaudy like tao's. It was cozy and cluttered with a bunch of knickknacks. His room was pretty cool too. He had multiple posters on the wall and a tapestry, with christmas lights hanging over it. He also had a gradient surf board on the wall and a sea shell collection on his desk.

Chanyeol and tao were discussing the taller's boy problems. He guessed that it had something to do with the red head at the party. 

"Just put your hand in his pants and everything will fall into place! Trust me. It's worked for me every single time." 

"That's harassment! And what if he doesn't feel the same way? You know he can kick my ass!"

"Stop being a baby and take a chance! Who cares if you get your faced smashed in?"

"I do!" 

They continued to argue while sehun was grabbing a bottle of bleach out of a plastic bag from walmart. "Okay so you definitely need a haircut but I was thinking I could also dye your hair?" Kai looked at him through the mirror "What color were you thinking about dying it?" The other pulled some scissors out of a drawer "I wanted pink but I had a feeling you would say no." "You're right." The blonde rolled his eyes "You just crushed the little hope i had left but I think brown would suit you and I still have some dye left over from the last time I dyed my hair." It wasn't that much of a drastic change from black so he nodded in agreement.

After two hours of sitting on a plastic chair, he washed the left over dye from his hair. When he walked out of the bathroom, the blonde boy immediately pushed him into a chair "Now it's time to dry it." His hair was pretty thick, and it took him a while to dry everything piece by piece. When he he no longer heard the blow dryer, he opened his eyes and looked in the mirror. "Do you like it?" Kai ran a hand through his hair "Yeah my head feels less heavy." The blonde laughed. Kai's hair was shorter now and a shade of chocolate brown. "Well since we're done here-" He said, getting up from his chair. "What do you mean?! I still need to do your make up!" He groaned.

Now he knew why sehun and tao always took so long to get ready, make up took forever to do. Sehun claimed that he wasn't gonna over do it since the other wasn't used to wearing makeup but "not over doing it" took almost an hour to do. 

They didn't lie when they say beauty hurts, because sehun kept poking his eye trying to line his eyes with black. But everything else wasn't that bad. Sehun dabbed something on his face to make his skin look even and for the finishing touch, added gloss on his lips.

"I feel like a clown." 

Sehun glared at him. "You havnt even looked at yourself yet." 

"So how does it look?" He said putting on his glasses, making everything in the room clearer. 

"It turned out really good. You look nice." 

"You think?" Kai felt butterflies in his stomach at the compliment.

"Yeah. Check it out for yourself." He pulled him up from his wrist and led him back to the bathroom. 

Kai looked in the mirror and was surprised to see the face staring back at him. His eyes were lined with black and his eye lids were covered in black too. On his bottom eyelashes was a little line of silver glitter. "Wow, you did a really good job." Sehun looked away shyly "I mean it's no big deal. I do my own make up all the time and I've even done kyungsoo's." He turned around to look sehun in the eyes "I mean it. Thank you." Sehun turned away and mumbled a 'no problem'. 

They were now both on the couch watching Heathers (the two other boy's left earlier). Sehun had his head resting on kai's shoulder, despite being taller. He would've felt nervous, but after spending an hour with sehun a couple of inches away from his face, this was nothing. The other suddenly lifted his head. "I almost forgot to take a picture of my latest master piece." He reached over to grab his phone on the table. Kai frowned. "I don't look good in pictures." Sehun sat back down on the other end of the couch "It's fine, I know not everyone can be as good as I am at selfies." The other boy scoffed. "You don't even have to smile. Just look at the camera." Kai rolled his eyes and looked at the camera. "Got it. You wanna see?" He scooted closer to the boy and handed him his phone. "It doesn't even look like me." He handed him back his phone. "Yeah it does. Think of it like this, meat is good by itself but you add seasoning to it for it to taste better but it still tastes like meat." Kai laughed that dorky, high pitched laugh that sehun loved. "What about you? You look just as good with or without 'seasoning'."

Sehun looked at him impressed "Is this your attempt at flirting with me? I never pegged you as flirty type, I guess I'm starting to rub off on you."

"I wasn't trying to flirt." The other pouted.

Sehun couldn't resist how cute the other boy looked (with lipgloss on, his lips looked extra plump and shiny, practically irresistible). He started to lean forward until he could faintly feel the other boy's mouth touching his. 

Feeling awkward, kai leaned back and tried to find something to talk about "So... why this movie?" Sehun went back to his original position on the couch, trying to ignore the fact he just got rejected. "It's one of my favorites. It has the perfect amount of violence and humor. Also, who doesn't love a good movie about a guy trying to blow up his school?" Kai laughed. They never finished the movie because halfway through they both fell asleep.

 

*** this is how i imagined kai in this chapter and its the make up I described.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcReaFE2jcsp-iEnCxOh3EY-aIYHHxJokyjD-T5qnxP8RP6p8Hkh6S7SStto


	4. Beautiful People Beautiful Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately for kai, summer is over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is longer than the rest haha. This has nothing to do with the chapter but I just wanted to say that this is my favorite picture of kai (the yellow one)! I can't stop staring at it! http://fy-exo.com/post/163482671592

Summer had passed in the blink of an eye. It seemed like just yesterday day that he had left his sleepy little town. 

He had made a lot of new friends and made decisions that he definitely regretted. Those were stories for later though because right now his alarm was going off. 

He wanted to die. 

After almost three months of sleeping in late (sehun and chanyeol had always dragged him into something in the middle of the nights even if he was sleeping) and waking up in the middle of the day, getting up early felt like torture. He checked his phone and replied to taemin's 'good luck at school' text. (They talked pretty often and kai had told him all about sehun. He talked about him so much that his best friend wouldn't reply if he mentioned the other's name.) 

Even after a shower he didn't feel any less sleepy and still very much felt like a zombie. He walked out of the bathroom, with only a pair of boxers on. He was halfway through pulling up the same shorts he always wore, when he heard a knock coming from the balcony doors. Through the clear doors he saw sehun, standing and waving at him, in a cheery mood despite it being the first day of school.

He screamed and finished pulling up his shorts, with still no shirt on. He walked over to the set of French doors and opened them "You pervert! Were you watching me change?"

"Actually no. I just happened to get here as you were putting on those hideous khaki shorts of yours. But do me a favor and repeat what you just said in that high pitched anime girl voice."

"Leave." He pointed at the door.

He lifted up his hands in surrender. "I'm kidding!" 

Kai sighed "Why are you here anyways? Shouldn't you be on your way to school?"

"I should but I had to make sure you didn't show up in some dumbass outfit. And by the looks of it, my hunch was right." 

"Can you go one day without judging something I do?" 

"I do it out of love." 

"I don't want your love."

Sehun ignored his comment and continued "Why didn't you pick out any of the clothes I bought you at the mall?" He pouted. 

"First of all you didn't buy them. I did. And second, why does it matter what I wear?"

"My dear child first impressions are everything. And I want to be able to be seen with you." Sehun honestly didn't care about how he dressed but the people at his school could be mean and ruthless. He didn't want kai to go through that. He knew the other boy was sensitive. Also he couldn't stop thinking about how good he'd look in the ripped skinny jeans he picked out for him.

He sauntered into the other's closet and threw a pair of black ripped skinny jeans and a white t shirt, at him. "Put these on." 

"Well at least turn around!"

"We're both guys. Who cares." The other wouldn't budge. "Oh yeah. I forgot we're both gay." Kai didn't remember telling him he was gay but he wasn't wrong so he didn't say anything. 

As kai was changing the blonde started speaking "I like your abs by the way. I didn't know you exercised?" Kai was glad he couldn't see him blush. "Well I dance so that keeps me in shape but I also go to the gym once in a while to keep my stamina up."

"Ah that explains why you danced so well that time you got drunk." 

Sehun was now in the bathroom fixing kai's hair, parting it to the side and putting on just a bit of make up (a little foundation and eyeliner). He stepped back when he was done, admiring his work. 

He was left breathless. The other boy looked like a model. The kind of guy anyone would drool over. 

Then a thought occurred to him. "What happened to your glasses? You havnt worn them all week?" As kai was putting on his contacts he answered his question. "Chanyeol accidentally sat on them and they broke." He shrugged "I haven't had time to go and get new ones. I have contacts anyways." Sehun checked his phone. "Shit! We're gonna be late." They grabbed their bags and ran out the front door. 

By the time they got to school there wasn't enough time for Sehun to walk him to class. He had to find his way to his first period alone. 

When he got to class everyone was already seated. The second he had walked into class the bell rang. That was a close one, he thought. 

He felt all eyes on him as he made his way to the back of the class, where the only empty seat left was. He sat down and tried to ignore all the people repeatedly turning around to look at him. Sitting next to him, was a small brunette reading manga. 

The class, history, seemed to go on forever, as the teacher went through the syllabus and class rules. He turned to see what the short kid next to him was reading. He was reading Naruto, one of his favorite series. 

Kai had always been shy and found it hard to talk to new people. Chanyeol had been different because he had been the one to talk to him first and sehun... well that was just luck. He took a deep breath, you can do this. "What volume are you on?" The boy next to him looked up for the first time. "You like naruto?" He asked skeptically. "Yeah it's one of my favorite mangas." The other boy looked him up and down. Kai ran a hand through his hair, something he did when he was nervous. The boy finally introduced himself "Im baekhyun, the only funny person in this hell hole." Kai felt relieved "I'm kai. I just moved here." "My condolences. You have to spend the next three years with the world's snobbiest assholes." Kai decided that he liked this guy.

The rest of class they spent discussing their favorite animes (kai liked the classic stuff while baekhyun liked a little bit of everything) and his other classes weren't so bad. He spent second period alone and third he had with baekhyun again. There he introduced him to someone named chen, a boy with black hair and big eyes. Fourth was lunch and the three of them were walking together. He hadn't seen sehun nor chanyeol all day. Chanyeol was in the year above so he didn't expect to have any classes with him but sehun was in his year and he had expected to get at least one class with him or even tao. So far he had no luck.

They set their trays down at a table in the corner of the cafeteria and started eating their chicken nuggets. Chen and baekhyun were busy complaining about their teachers despite it only being the first day. 

Kai's eyes were scanning the cafeteria, looking at all the new faces, when his eyes landed on a familiar face. Sehun was sitting with chanyeol, tao, the red head from the party and yixing, a boy with curly black hair who sometimes hung out with chanyeol. The blonde across the cafeteria met his eyes. Chanyeol had noticed him not pay attention to their conversation and turned around to see what his friend was looking at. He started waving at kai like a maniac. Then sehun got up and headed towards his table, still not breaking eye contact. It felt like the whole cafeteria had stopped what they were doing to stare at sehun. You'd think he was a celebrity by how much attention he got. The blonde sat down in front of kai. "What the hell are you doing?" Kai turned to look over at the two other boy's at and saw their mouth's were hanging. "Come sit with us right now." He had a serious look on his face. "No, I'm sitting with baekhyun and chen. I'm not just gonna ditch them." Sehun quickly glanced over at the two other boys and pursed his lips. "Fine. But tomorrow you sit with us. Promise?" He couldn't understand why he was acting this way. "I promise okay? Can you go now? Everyone is staring." Sehun looked like he was about to say something else but instead shook his head and walked back to his table. 

Everyone in the cafeteria had resumed what they were doing. Kai was going to continue their previous conversation but when he turned he saw that their mouths were still hanging open.

"What?" 

"What do you mean what?! We should be the ones asking that!" Kai was still confused.

"How do you know him? Are you guys related?" 

Chen interjected "Did you fail to tell us that you're filthy rich?!" 

"We're not related,ew, and no, I'm not filthy rich. I met him over summer break." 

"Of course he's all buddy buddy with them! Sehun only bothers with popular or attractive people." Chen said to baekhyun. 

"How was I supposed to know? We talked about Naruto for god sakes! I didn't think he'd be friends with him, considering he's new." 

"Um, can someone explain all of this to me?" He asked, genuinely confused. 

Baekhyun sighed "Of course you don't know. I'll explain everything, my innocent little friend. First of all, sehun and tao are the main bitches here. They basically run the place and do whatever they want. They're also the hottest guys at school or at least were, until you got here. Kyungsoo, the short one, only hangs out with everyone at their table, he's very exclusive. He's also not one to be messed with. He can beat the shit out of you and has done so to anyone who talks bad about chanyeol. We think chanyeol pays him, he can definitely afford it. It's a well known fact that he's extremely rich. They all are but he has the most. I even heard he owns 10 rolexes. He's well loved by everyone at school because he gets along with everyone. He's also the school's star athlete. He's been on the football and basketball team every year." 

Kai took in what his short friend had just told him. "How do you know all this?" Baekhyun shrugged. "They're the talk of the school. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know all this." Chen spoke up. "So are all the rumors true? Like does chanyeol actually own 10 rolexes?" "He owns 15, actually." His friends stared at him impressed. "Then does sehun's dad really own Starbucks?" His parents did have a business but it was a tourist shop. They sold t shirts and snow globes. Kai wasn't sure if sehun would want people knowing that so instead said "No way. Where'd you hear that?" Baekhyun played with his food. "I read it in a bathroom stall." The three of them laughed and continued to berate kai with questions.

 

 

The next day he was roaming around the cafeteria with a tray in his hand, searching for sehun. He had talked to baekhyun and chen the period before and they didn't seem to mind him going to sit at another table today.

He found sehun sitting at the same table as yesterday, in the middle of the cafeteria. He sat in an empty seat next to kyungsoo and across from sehun. 

"You kept your promise." The blonde looked up smiling.

"I mean yeah you guys are my friends too." 

"I didn't know you were into pretty boys by the way." He said with a little bitterness. Kai looked at him confused, while opening his water bottle. 

"That's why you were hanging out with baekhyun yesterday. Right?" 

"We started talking because we both like manga."

"Sorry I don't understand nerd talk." 

Kai rolled his eyes.

"I was just kidding." Sehun whined 

Chanyeol was busy talking to kyungsoo (the red head from the party) about how excited he is for football season. "I hope I can make the team." He said worriedly. Kyungsoo pointed a fork at him "You make the team every year. They'd be stupid not to pick you." Sehun made an exaggerated gagging sound. Tao yelled "Just kiss already!" Chanyeol blushed and concentrated on eating again. Kyungsoo glared at tao 

"You know I can kick your ass, right?" He said, still blushing at the other's comment. 

"You would never. And besides I know wushu. I'd be the one kicking ass." 

"You're so vapid that I forget you have skills other than doing make up." 

Tao took no offense to his words. 

He suddenly turned his attention to kai. "I've been meaning to tell that you've made quiet the impact." It seemed that his friends were always talking about something he didn't know about. 

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything." 

"You don't have to do anything with a face like that." He unlocked his phone to show him the list of Snapchat messages he had received. "You know how many people have messaged me and sehun asking us to introduce them to you? The whole school is talking about the hot new guy." He had nothing to say. He was surprised. Whenever someone complimented him (which was rarely) it was never about his appearance. "And now that you're sitting with us you're gonna be even more popular!" Kai thought about it. "But I don't want to be popular. I prefer staying under the radar." Sehun who had just been following the conversation between the two spoke up "Ugh you sound like kyungsoo." He rolled his eyes. "Why would you not wanna be popular? It's fun! You get invited to parties, you get to hang out other with hot people, you're admired by the whole school and even the people who do hate you still want to be you. It's a charmed life."

"Could you be anymore shallow?" 

"I'm not shallow just honest." 

He couldn't argue with that.

Kai's last class of the day was with sehun and the curly haired boy named yixing. He'd had met him before at couple of parties, chanyeol and sehun dragged him to. He also sat with them at lunch sometimes.

"Are you joining dance team again this year?" Yixing asked sehun. "Yep." The curly haired boy then leaned over sehun to talk to kai "Are you joining any clubs?" Before he could give him an answer sehun said "Yeah, he's gonna be joining the dance team." Kai shot sehun a look. "Really? We haven't had a new member in a while and we're gonna be needing another member since xiumin is graduating this year." 

Kai wanted to be on the team. He really did. But he had never performed in front of anyone other than taemin before and grinding at a party did not count. "Um, actually I don't know if I can." Yixing nodded understandingly. "Oh well that's okay" He grabbed a flyer from his book bag "Here, our first meeting is tomorrow, after school in the gymnasium. Please think about it." He accepted the flyer and put it in his binder. 

The bell rang indicating school was over. Yixing waved goodbye and walked out of the classroom. Kai grabbed his book bag and was about to leave when he felt someone pull him back. "You're going to the meeting tomorrow right?" He let go of the other's book bag. "I... I don't know." Sehun clasped his hands together "Please. It's not like you'll be alone! I'll be there." Kai sighed "It's just that I'm scared to dance in front of people. I'm scared of what they'll think of me." He said trailing off near the end. The blonde grabbed his face, making him look at him straight in the eye. "I wouldn't be encouraging you to join if I didn't think you were good." He took a shaky breath. "People deserve to see how good you are." Kai stood there in silence. No one had ever told him that before. It felt nice knowing that he believed in him so much. He didn't know what to say. "So are you going tomorrow?" He said, still looking him in the eyes. "I'll be there."


	5. Melancholy Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai and kyungsoo go to the beach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's title is a song by the Gorillaz. I was listening to it while writing the chapter lol. This is the only sad chapter! I promise!

"We have a new member joining us today so I want everyone to introduce them selves." Kai sat in a circle on the gymnasium floor along with sehun, yixing and a group of people he didn't know.

He had kept his word and stayed after school to attend the dance team meeting. Sehun's words the other day had given him the encouragement he had needed. He was glad he had came because he knew if he hadn't he'd be wondering what if for the rest of the year. 

Kai was the last one to introduce himself. "I'm kai and I'm a sophomore." 

"Well since this is dance team, can you show us something? Anything is fine." He knew he'd have to dance in front of others eventually, but he was still nervous. He glanced at sehun, who was already looking at him. He hesitantly laid his hand on top of kai's and squeezed. Kai thought his hand looked nice on top of his. Their hands looked completely different, kai's tan hand under sehun's porcelain one, but they resembled a puzzle. They just fit.

Kai slowly got up from his place and walked to the middle of the make shift circle. He didn't even have to think about what he was do because he had already decided what he was gonna dance. It was a routine he and taemin made a long time ago. He knew that routine like the back of his hand, it was like walking to him, something he didn't have to think about. 

He closed his eyes and let his body move freely. He played the song they'd choreographed to in his head. He felt at peace. It was as if he was the only one in the room.

When he came back down to earth he could hear cheering and clapping. He walked back to his spot next to sehun and next to him was xiumin, the only senior on the dance team (and co captain). Xiumin had turned towards him, still sitting his his legs crossed. 

"No wonder yixing didn't even make you audition. You're so good!" 

He hadn't known about any audition? "There was an audition? Yixing never mentioned it. He just told me to show up today." 

"We always hold auditions in the mornings but yixing had told me sehun recommended you." 

"How did he know I was gonna good." 

"He trusts sehun's opinion. Everyone knows he doesn't give out compliments to just anyone." 

Kai didn't know what to say. He was thankful to sehun for being such a good friend. But that was the thing, they were just friends and kai wanted more than that. Sehun was moody and kai had a hard time understanding the other boy. He was afraid sehun would stop hanging out with him if he knew about his crush. He would just be the countless other people goin after sehun. Holding in how he felt was better than not being able to be around sehun anymore. 

"Okay so now that introductions are over law can start practice. I've already started working on our routine for the pep rally. We only meet twice a week and have less than two months. Let's get to work, everybody." 

 

 

Sehun had left a little early because he had to take the bus to work so kai had to walk home alone. The routine they had been practicing was fast paced and fun. He was really looking forward to the final product.

It was raining when he had walked past the double doors of his school. It was the kind of rain where there's few clouds and the sun is still shinning. 

He was halfway home when a beat up green Toyota stopped next to him. As the window rolled down he heard a deep voice. "You need a ride?" When the window was all the way down he saw that the voice had come from kyungsoo. He had only talked to the other boy when they exchanged a casual hey, despite sitting at the same table at lunch. He seemed like an okay guy, so he walked around and got into the passenger seat. "Sorry for getting the seat wet." The other boy kept his eyes on the road. "Trust me, the seat getting wet isn't the worst thing that's happened in this car." Kai didn't want to imagine what he meant by that and didn't wonder any further.

The ride was silent other than the car engine humming and the occasional screech of brakes. That is until kyungsoo cleared his throat. "So how did you become friends with chanyeol?" Kai wasn't expecting that question. He told him how he had hit him with a basketball and how everyday since then the other had been attached to his hip. 

The red head silently nodded. "Um... you... or he... doesn't have feelings for you, does he?" Kai was surprised again at his question. 

"No! we're just friends. No offense to chanyeol but he's not exactly my type." 

"So you're not gay?" 

"I am. I just don't see him like that. He's like a brother to me." 

The red head looked relieved. "For a while I thought you two were fucking." 

Kai wanted to gag at the thought of having sex with his friend. "Why would you think that?" 

"He talks about you often. He also mentioned that he was at your house all the time so I thought..." 

"God no, he just likes to annoy me and steal my snacks." 

The driver laughed. "Okay glad I cleared that up." 

"Um you don't have to answer but why do you care? Like why do you care if chanyeol is with anybody." 

They had already gotten to kai's house thanks to google maps and were parked in front of the driveway. 

"I well, you see, I was I guess possibly, thinking of... asking him out." 

It all made sense to him now. That's why kyungsoo had always gotten mad at tao for joking about him and chanyeol getting together. He was shy. 

"No offense but I didn't expect that. You guys are so different. How did you two even become friends?" 

"Yeah I know right. He's a jock and I'm like some emo punk rocker hybrid." 

"Aren't those the same thing?" 

"No. And how I met chanyeol is kind of a long story." 

"Are you saying that as in you don't want to tell me or as in it's genuinely long story?" 

"It's a long story." 

"I have time." He actually had homework but that could wait. 

"I can tell you but can we go somewhere else?" 

"You aren't gonna take me to some warehouse in the middle of nowhere? Are you?" 

The other laughed, his mouth making a little heart shape. "No." 

"Okay but just know I'm willing to jump out of a moving car." 

"Fine by me."

 

 

Kyungsoo pulled over to the side of the road. "We're here." They got out and walked through the sand, to a wall of ragged rocks. The rocks were tall and black and disappeared into the ocean. "See? No warehouse in the middle of no where." They took their shoes off and stood where the ocean touched land. 

They just stood there with their feet in the water when kai asked, "Are you gonna tell me?" 

"Yeah, I'm not sure where to start though." They took a seat on the white, powdery sand.

"Chanyeol and I went to the same middle school but we didn't really know each other. It wasn't until 8th grade that we actually met. A year earlier my parents got divorced, which sucked but it was better then having to hear them fight all the time. After the divorce my dad got a girlfriend. I didn't know her that well but she seemed nice and I didn't particularly mind her moving in with me and my dad. I know it's probably weird that we barely know each other and I'm telling you my life story." 

"I don't think it's weird. Please, keep on going." 

He took a shaky breath. "Okay. So she seemed nice at first. She didn't have a job at the moment and my dad was at work most of the time so I spent a lot of time alone with her. She was very touchy but I thought that's just how she was because some people are just like that. But when I would go to bed and she thought I was asleep I'd hear her come into my room. She never did anything but I saw how she looked at me when it was just the two of us at home." Kai noticed the water starting to form in kyungsoo's eyes. "I was so scared and lonely. I didn't have friends to talk to and I wanted to tell my dad but I was scared of what he'd say. One night while my dad was at work, she got very drunk. She started coming on to me. I could fight her off because of how drunk she was. That same night I ran away to the park and slept in the slide." 

"Kyungsoo, I'm so sorry." 

"It's okay. It's in the past. Anyways, chanyeol had found me at the park. He had gotten in a fight with his parents and went to the park to cool off. He stayed with me, in the slide, even though he barely knew me. But we got cold and finally went back to his house. He let me stay at his house for a couple of days. He heard me out and told me to tell my dad. He said that if he didn't believe me, I could just live in his house for the rest of my life." He stopped to laugh. "My dad did understand though, he believed me. Now I feel bad for worrying him. He had listened to me and broke up with her. I haven't seen her since then. Until today he was the only person who knew all this."

Kai felt his heart ache because no one and definitely not kyungsoo deserved to go through that. He was glad everything had turned out okay. "You like him because of what he did that day?"

"He's my best friend and a really good person. At first I wasn't sure if I thought I liked him because I felt like he saved me but after a couple years it wouldn't go away. I guess my crush was real." Kai patted his back as tears ran down the other's face.

"You're gonna ask him out right? How are you gonna do it?" 

"That's the thing. I don't really know. I want to do something special for him." 

Kai thought about about for a minute and cam up with an idea. It's good sehun forced him to watch all those cheesy romantic movies. Kai started explaining his plan and the other thought it was a good idea too.

By the time he got home, it was night and he was exhausted, it had been a long day. He was about to fall asleep when he remembered his homework. He screamed into his pillow.


	6. Get You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dance team perform at the pep rally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought of the song get you by Daniel caesar while writing this. Kai also recommended it to a fan recently! It's one of my favorite songs so I was happy he liked it too. Also the next chapter is the last chapter! The 8th chapter is like an epilogue. Also that one comment is very sweet :') it feels weird knowing people read my writing? Haha

"Ugh they're so cute together it makes me wanna throw up." 

Kai and sehun were standing next to his locker, watching the new couple walk towards them. Sehun continued "I thought it'd be at least another year until one of you got the balls to ask the other out." Kyungsoo had his arms wrapped around chanyeol's middle while the other had his hand over his shoulder. "It's been a more than a month. The lovey dovey stage should be over by now." The couple looked at each other and shrugged. "I guess it's because we love each other so much." Said chanyeol leaning down to kiss kyungsoo. "Come on kai, I'm starting to feel nauseous." 

It turns out kai's plan had worked. When kyungsoo had asked for his help almost two months ago he suggested serenading chanyeol because he knew that the only thing he loved as much as sports was music. He also thought of the idea because he recalled chanyeol saying he loved kyungsoo's singing voice. Apparently, his idea had worked. 

Kai sat in his first period, listening to baekhyun talk about how the manga is always better than the anime, as they did their class work. He checked his phone and saw two texts from sehun. The first one read "Don't forget today's the pep rally" The second read "I brought ur tank top btw" He answered "Thanks" and "How could I forget?" 

Today was the day the dance team and cheerleaders had to perform their routines at the pep rally, to celebrate the start of football season. This was his first time actually participating in anything that had to do with school spirit. He had always thought pep rally's were dumb. He didn't care about football and he didn't have an ounce of school spirit in him. But for the first time he was actually excited and looking forward to it (it was a mix of that nervousness and excitement). School had always been something he just wanted to get over with but this whole school year he'd actually been looking forward to going to school. Obviously he still hates homework and projects, but what made this year different is that he had friends.  
He didn't have to worry about who he was gonna work with in group projects, he always had a friend willing to work with him and he got to hang out with his crush everyday (even if it was unrequited). He didn't have to sit alone and watch everyone have fun with their friends and he didn't have to wonder anymore what it was like to be a teenager who has fun. For the first time in a long time he didn't feel lonely anymore.

It was fifth period now, geometry, and they were only 15 minutes into class when sehun walked in. He's not even in this class, why is he here? He saw him whisper something to the teacher and she nodded. She called kai over to her desk. "Sehun said that the dance team is meeting in the gymnasium right now." He glanced at sehun who gave him a look. "You can turn your classwork in tomorrow." He thanked her and walked out with sehun.

Once in the hall kai stopped sehun. "We still have two hours until the pep rally to start. Why are we meeting now?" 

"We're not meeting. I just didn't want to smoke alone." 

"Since when do you smoke at school?" 

"I don't but I'm nervous." 

He could understand why he'd need a smoke. "Alright."

They snuck out through a set of double doors next to a stair case and walked to the football field. They sat under the bleachers, which wasn't his preferred place to sit, since he could see all the discarded wrappers and used condoms on the grass. 

Sehun worked on rolling up his blunt and lit it with a lighter he pulled out of his pocket.

Kai watched the smoke curl around sehun as he lied on the grass with a hand behind his head. He looked beautiful and dreamy. He seemed to have come out of a movie or a magazine. He lied down on the grass too and thought about how in almost two months he hadn't gotten anywhere with sehun, despite spending the majority of their time together. He knew he had already made a deal with himself to not get his hopes up and remain friends with sehun, but a little part of him was still disappointed and heartbroken. He couldn't control his feelings.

Sehun broke him out of his daze. "You want some?" He held the blunt out for kai. "I'm good." Sehun sat up. "I can tell you're nervous. You keep on running your hand through your hair and licking your lips." He was surprised at sehun observations. "I can't hide anything from you can I?" He joked. Sehun smiled, still holding the blunt out. "Nope!" Kai took it. "Come on it's not like it's your first time." Kai sat there with the blunt in his hand. "I know but I don't smoke as often as you do and I don't want to be high at school." 

"If any teachers ask, we both have pink eye." 

He laughed. He couldn't turn him down. "Alright alright." 

They passed it back and forth until it was time for lunch. 

"Are you two high?" Chanyeol asked suspiciously. Sehun giggled "Yeah." Chanyeol looked at kai, who had his head in his arms, taking a nap. "You got him high too?" He was concentrating really hard on opening his carton of milk. "I didn't make him do anything he didn't want to do." Kyungsoo was in disbelief. "You haven't been high at school since last year and you choose to get high on the day of the pep rally? And you dragged kai with you? You're unbelievable." Sehun finally opened his milk. Opening milk was hard, he thought. "We'll be fine! Everything'll be just peachy." 

 

 

"You can see everything. It's practically see through." 

"No one will mind."

"But I mind!"

Since the whole team was going to dance together, yixing had wanted them to all dress coordinated. He wanted them in something simple, a white tank top, jeans and a red hat (white and red where the school colors after all). Kai didn't have a white tank top though so he had asked sehun to bring him one. A big mistake apparently, since he knew his friend was a show off and 90% of his clothes showed off his body. Which explained the see through tank top that was too big and lifted up during dance practice. "Would you rather have no shirt?" Kai sighed, he could never win with sehun. "No..."

Kai saw through the little window of the double doors, people pouring into the gym. His high had passed by and their last practice had gone flawlessly. He shouldn't have been worried but he was. The whole team was crowded next to the doors, waiting for their cue to run in. Yixing was giving them a pep talk. "I know everyone's nervous but we didn't make a single mistake during practice. You all know the routine by heart. We can do this!" They huddled in and put their hands all together and did a little cheer. 

They ran into the gym when the music had started, waving and cheering hyping everyone up as they ran to their spots. Kai was in the front with yixing and minseok. Yixing had moved him to the front only recently because he thought he was one of the best dancers on the team. It was an honor coming from yixing but felt like a punishment at the same time. He knew everyone was staring at him (well all of them but he had always been a little paranoid about receiving attention in general). He cleared his head and tried to forget about all the things that could go wrong. He knew the dance so well, he could do this. 

Their music had started and it felt like time slowed down but also went by in the blink of an eye. He didn't even focus on the music, his body just instinctively knew what to do. 

Before he knew it the performance was over. He liked the adrenaline running through him and how confident he felt. He wanted more. Who knew performing could feel so good?

They left the center of the gym to let the cheerleaders perform their routine. The whole team was in high spirits. "I think the crowd really enjoyed it! Everyone did a good job so I'm treating everyone to Chipotle after school." Everyone cheered at hearing they were going to be getting free food. 

Tao, chanyeol and kyungsoo had walked over to him, sehun and yixing at the student parking lot. Tao yelled loudly. "You guys looked hot." People turned to look at them as he yelled, much to kai's embarrassment. Sehun responded with an 'I know.' 

"Let me guess? You choreographed it, yixing? I could tell by the hip thrusts." The curly haired boy nodded. Tao looked at the others. "He looks innocent but I can see past his act." Yixing made no protest. "You all did really well." Said kyungsoo. His boyfriend agreed "You guys looked so cool!" Kai was happy to hear his friend's compliments. "Thanks you guys." Sehun took yixing's keys, "I'd love to stand here and continue to be sappy but I don't wanna be the last ones to get to Chipotle. Can we please go now?" They said their goodbyes. 

Yixing was driving and playing see you again by tyler the creator on his phone. Sehun sat next to sehun in the back seat. 

"I knew you could do it." 

"Thanks. I wouldn't have joined if you didn't push me into it." 

"No problem. I... know you're kind of insecure but... I can tell that you were meant to be in the spotlight. Not to sound cheesy..." 

"I don't think it's cheesy at all. No ones ever believed in me like you've had." 

This time he held his hand on top of sehun's and interlaced their fingers. Sehun didn't make an effort to move his hand so he kept it there. The windows were rolled down and the wind was blowing, giving them a break from the sun's heat. Kai liked how the song playing matched how he was feeling. He wished they could stay like this forever, his hand in sehun's hand with the sweet song playing in the background.


	7. Cherry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai goes to tao for advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! I might add an epilogue but who knows. If I do it'll be very short haha. This chapter was fun to write! It's so cute. My next work is gonna be a kaisoo one shot!

It was a Saturday afternoon and kai was sitting on the couch eating cold pizza and catching up on the walking dead. Everyone he usually hung out with was busy today, minus himself. Kyungsoo and chanyeol were on a date, Sehun was at another modeling audition and baekhyun and Chen were at a choir performance. In short he had nothing to do. 

He wasn't focusing on his show though because he was thinking of sehun. He had originally given up on him but not matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get over him. He decided that he was gonna tell him how he felt and let him decide if he still wanted to be friends. There was high chance he would get rejected but maybe he'd give him a chance. He'd rather get hurt now then hold on to false hope for the next couple of years. 

Unfortunately, he wasn't very knowledgeable on how to ask him out and definitely had no clue how to tell him how he felt. He didn't want to randomly confess. He'd have to find the right moment. 

That's when he got an idea. The only person who could help him out and the only one who knew sehun better than anyone else, was tao. He didn't text him very often and was a little nervous but his anxiety aside for the sake of love. It sounded corny but it was the truth.

Kai:  
Hey

Tao:  
U almost never text me unless I text u first? 

Kai:  
,...... I need advice 

Tao:  
On sehun?

Kai:  
How did you know?

Tao:  
I'm on my way to ur place  
I'll tell u there

For claiming to be "on the way", the boy arrived at his house two hours later with Starbucks in his hands. 

"Here I got one for you too." He handed him a grande iced tea. 

"Oh thanks." He led him to his room.

"So you're gonna finally ask sehun out?"

"How did you even know? Are you a mind reader or something?"

"Nope. I just have eyes everywhere. Also it's kinda obvious."

Kai's insides twisted. "Really..."

"Don't give me those sad puppy eyes, you're almost making me feel guilty." 

"I don't have puppy eyes. It's just how I look."

"Yeah you do. And you have nothing to worry about. He likes you too."

"He told you?"

"Yep! He's talks about you a lot."

Kai felt was curious but on the other hand a little worried. "What does he say about me..." 

"I'm not gonna go into too much detail because I'm not that much of an evil friend to reveal all the embarrassing stuff he says about you, but he often comes to me to freak about how cute he thinks you are." 

Kai couldn't imagine his "too cool to care" friend gushing about his crush. 

"He's always snapchatting me pictures of you. He even has a picture of you as his wallpaper!" 

Kai was genuinely surprised. It felt like someone was pulling some cruel prank on him but there was no prank, tao wasn't that mean. Never in a million years did he think his feelings were going to be reincorporated. He felt more confident about asking him out. 

"How should I tell him that I'm interested in him?" 

"Well I'm gonna be having a pool party next week. You should come and tell him then." 

"Seems good."

"Okay cus I'm texting him about it right now." 

Kai's phone buzzed not even a minute later. 

Sehun:  
R u going to tao's party? Pls come!!!!! He's gonna be wasted  
Who will I make fun of other people with!!!! 

"He just texted me asking me to go." He said typing out an 'okay' and added 'are you still at the audition?'

"See? I told you he was held over heels for you." 

His phone buzzed. It was sehun's reply.

Sehun:  
Yeah -_- I'm so bored

He sent a picture of himself in a waiting room full of other potential models. Tao was looming over him, watching him text sehun. Kai was just gonna reply with 'that sucks' but then tao started yelling in his ear. "Send him a selfie too!" 

"I'm not very good at selfies." He frowned.

"I'll teach you! My selfies are always amazing."

Kai held his phone at arms length while tao instructed him on what to do.

"Tilt your chin down. More. More. I said more! Okay better. Now smile. No that's too much smile. Okay perfect. Now put your head on your hand. Now take the picture." 

He clicked the circle on his screen. He felt a little dumb because he wasn't used to taking pictures of himself but he trusted tao. He clicked send and added "I'm watching the walking dead." (It wasn't that much of a lie.) Now he waited. 

He jumped when he saw the notification that said sehun.

Sehun:  
What season r u on?

Kai:  
I'm on season 5

"All we have to do is wait for him to send me your selfie with a paragraph of hearts." Just as he finished his sentence his screen light up, notifying him that sehun sent him a message.

"I was right, as always." He unlocked his phone. And in fact sehun had sent tao his selfie and a ton of hearts. 

"Let me read what he said." He cleared his throat. 

"Isn't he the cutest human bean alive. A million exclamation points and question marks. I want to squeeze his cheeks and hold his face. A million more various heart emojis. This is the first time he's sent me a selfie. Could this mean something. Question mark and blushing emoji." 

Sehun hadn't let chanyeol live it down when he had seen his sentimental and heart filled texts to kyungsoo. Kai wandt expecting sehun to be so mushy. And definitely not mushy about him, out of all people. He was pretty aloof most of the time except if he was complaining or teasing someone. Very rarely did he ever see him emotional or serious. But then again, the boy watched more romance movies than the average person.

 

 

A week had passed by and it was Saturday, the day of tao's party. Kai brushed his hair to the side. He put on the swim trunks and a tank top. It was a pool party, after all. Yixing was going to pick him up and would then pick up Sehun. 

Once they got there it was just the two of them. They were sitting next to the pool, with their feet in the water. 

"I'm surprised you agreed to come. It usually takes me begging on my hands and knees, and promising free food for you to come with me to a party." 

"Well I haven't gone to one in a while. I figured why not." That was a lie. He was here for one reason only and that was to ask sehun out.

"I'm really craving a popsicle right now." 

"You're always thinking about food aren't you? Okay. let's ditch this place. Its kinda boring anyways." He got up and held his hand out, to help kai up. 

They left through a gate and walked to the nearest Seven Eleven. Sehun got a mango flavored popsicle stick and kai got a strawberry flavored one. 

They sat down on the dock, where all the expensive boats were floating gently on the water. It was empty despite it being the weekend. It was usually the busiest during the weekends.

Kai was getting ready to confess to sehun, it was the perfect moment. He was about to say something, when he noticed sehun laughing. 

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just that your lips are really red. They look like cherries."

He licked his lips. "Shouldn't it be strawberries? Since I'm eating a strawberry popsicle stick."

"Yeah but cherries are a brighter red." 

He watched as sehun kept his eyes on his lips. Before he knew it the other boy was leaning into him. Kai quickly put a hand over his mouth.

A look of disappointment flashed on sehun's face. Kai hurried to explain. "Um, I've been meaning to tell you that I... I really like you. As a friend but also romantically." It's the first time he's seen sehun's face look so red. This time kai was the one who leaned in. 

Kissing sehun was exactly how he'd imagine it. His lips were soft and tasted sweet. He wasn't exactly the most experienced kisser but it was just a peck and sehun was helping him by kissing him back. Kai giggled. "Your lips taste like mango." 

Sehun held his face and started giving him quick little kisses all over his cheeks, forehead and nose. "God you're so cute. I didn't even think you liked me back." He still held kai's face in his hands. "I've liked you since forever." Sehun put his hands down. "You have?" Kai suddenly felt shy. "I've liked you since the day I moved here." He hurried to correct himself. "At first it was because I thought you were really beautiful but I got to know you and eventually it turned into a crush." 

"But I tried to kiss you that time I did your make up? We were on the couch and you... well rejected me." 

"Oh. I didn't know you were trying to kiss me. I got nervous because you were so close."

"My lips were practically touching yours!" 

"I don't know what I was thinking! I thought you were to good for me. I didn't think someone like you would try to kiss me!"

"You're an idiot."

He pouted. 

"Im kidding. You're my idiot now." 

He softly kissed his bottom lip. 

"Wait, I need to know. Did you plan this?"

"What do you mean?" He turned his head like a confused puppy. 

"I mean, when I asked you to go to the party, did you plan on trying to seduce me or something at the party?"

"I was planning on asking you out. You really think I would try to seduce you? I'm not tao. No offense to him."

"Are you sure? Because the way you were sucking on that popsicle was very slutty. You knew I wouldn't be able to resist kissing you."

He put an arm around his waist and slide his hand in his shirt. "Sehun~ what if someone sees us." He whined. "There's no one around. Don't worry." Kai's mouth was in a little 'o' and sehun gave his puffy, red lips an open mouthed kiss. Kai shivered and whined, gripping sehun's shirt.

Sehun pulled away, out of breath. "Okay at this rate I won't be able to stop."

Kai wanted to keep kissing him but he didn't want to end up having public sex either.

"You're the best kiss I've ever had by the way." 

"Thanks but I'm not that good at kissing."

"I think it's because I like you so much and that's why I enjoyed it so much? I haven't liked anyone as much as I like you. Also, your lips are so plump, they were made for kissing."

Kai hid his face behind his hands. "I change my mind about liking you." Sehun pulled him into a hug and buried his cheek in his soft, brown hair. 

"Does this count as our first date?" 

Kai pouted. "No, I wanna take you on a proper first date."

Sehun felt like his heart was gonna explode. "Can I kiss you again?"

"You're horny. Can you stop thinking with your dick for a second?"

"Fine. Where are you gonna take me then?" 

"The carnival's in town. How about I take you there or do you want something more fancy?" 

"The carnival is perfect, very cliche. You know me so well."

"Haha okay. I'll pick you up tomorrow around 7."

"That gives me enough time to get ready, okay. I expect you to do all the stereotypical stuff, by the way. That includes giving me flowers, winning me a stuffed animal and taking me on the ferris wheel."

"Fine by me."

They continued to sit on the dock, legs hanging over the water, giving each other kisses every once in a while. The party was completely forgotten.


End file.
